


Night Pushes the Day

by arrafrost



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: All humans are merpeople, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, M/M, all wolves are human (except Scott)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-16
Updated: 2013-10-13
Packaged: 2017-12-20 05:20:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/883399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arrafrost/pseuds/arrafrost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It fell into the water, flailing and twisting in the water as if it didn’t know how to swim. It placed its hand upon Stiles' fin and he felt the warmth of it pass through him. It was something Stiles wanted to know much more about.</p><p>It was named Derek, and Derek was just as captivated by Stiles and his red fin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This all started when I wrote a drabble to Torah's wonderful mer!Stiles art [which can be found [on tumblr here](http://arrafrost.tumblr.com/post/55041611597/it-fell-into-the-water-flailing-and-twisting-in)] and decided that I had fallen in love with the idea of mer!Stiles and started plotting away at a full length fic, which turned into a multi-chapter fic idea.

It fell into the water, flailing and twisting in the water as if it didn't know how to swim. Stiles watched it sink lower and lower from afar until the thing stopped moving entirely and barely any bubbles rose from it like they had when it had first fallen in. The bubbles had risen from it in a rush, large ones as though the air from above was trapped below and needed to escape. 

Stiles wondered momentarily if the creature was an air thief before he started swimming towards it, quickly yet cautiously. His father always taught Stiles to be weary of mysterious creatures. The ocean was filled with ominous beings that wanted to snatch you up for their meal. Stiles had dealt with sharks before though and they weren't all bad.

This creature looked nothing like a shark though. Nothing like any creature Stiles had ever seen in the sea before. 

He peered closely at the thing as it continued to sink. It didn't appear to be a living creature. Not anymore at least. The only thing Stiles could think to do was bring it back to where it had come from.

Without hesitating, Stiles wrapped his arms around the thing and flicked his fin, swiftly bringing it to the surface of the water where they bounced on top of the water. Being slightly above the water level made it more difficult to hold the thing up. It was heavy in his arms, dead weight that he sort of hoped hadn't died. Which was why Stiles dragged the thing, holding it on his body as he swam backwards, over to a nearby beach that Stiles used quite often to warm his scales in the sun.

It remained still as Stiles pushed it onto the sand far enough that the waves didn't splash its face - a face that looked a lot like a merperson’s face. His entire body was similar to the merpeople, except this creature was wearing odd, soft things on its body and it had two sticky out things instead of a tail.

Stiles poked it. Finger prodding into all parts of its body, the cheeks, the neck, the chest, the stomach, the... twiggy things sticking out of its bottom. He squeezed them at their thickest point and worked his way down, finding two weird appendages at the bottoms. They stuck out and had five smaller wiggly things. Stiles leaned forward and bit one of the tiny bits and suddenly the thing was coughing loudly and spitting up its water onto the sand. 

Stiles backed away, but he watched with curious eyes as the thing rolled onto its side and continued to heave. When its breathing leveled somewhat and it stopped gasping, it looked up with eyes that were darker than most creatures Stiles had ever seen and stared at him with fear and amazement in its eyes. Stiles tilted his head, offering a peaceful gaze to the creature that didn't belong in his waters, and then poked its bottom piece again. 

The thing jumped slightly, narrowing its eyes in confusion as he looked to the place where Stiles had prodded his finger and then back to Stiles, then down to Stiles' red scaled tail. Stiles flicked his fin generously, making the thing twitch mildly and back away, but then he was leaning forward with his fingers eager to touch Stiles' tail.

Stiles narrowed his eyes and backed away, closer to the water, and the thing followed him, attempting to look as non-threatening as possible and then it smiled. Showed its teeth in a way that made Stiles stop completely and stare, losing any thought process where his mind was usually racing. He was sure there was a reason he wasn't supposed to be close to this creature, something his father had once told him about situations like this. But the baring of this creature’s teeth wasn't in threat, it wasn't trying to scare Stiles away or eat him. It was... friendly. Smiling like Scott or Allison smiled at him. Only... it wasn't the same at all.

A warm hand was on his tail in moments and Stiles felt a chill run through his body. Stiles breathed in the air, frowning down at the hand touching him while remaining absolutely still. He didn't know what he was meant to do. What if moving startled the creature into attacking him, or worse... what if it scared it away? The hand on his fin felt nice, felt comforting and Stiles wanted to move into the touch.

Then the creature opened its mouth and sound came out. Deep, rough sounds that were soft and reassuring, but Stiles didn't know what it meant. It wasn't a growling or a warning call. It wasn't any native language Stiles knew and he knew quite a few - not as much as Lydia, but almost.

Stiles tilted his head again, this time in mild confusion and reached forward, poking the thing's lips. Though he wasn't sure how that would help him understand the creature's language, it simply felt... right.

The creature's eyes widened in shock but made no attempt to move while Stiles poked and pulled at its lips. Possibly it was in the same state of mind that Stiles had previously been in.

It grumbled slightly when Stiles let go of one of the lips after pulling it quite far, and then Stiles’ fingers traced over its face again. Poking gently and pushing at its flesh until the creature brought its own hand and linked its fingers with Stiles'.

They stared at each other, Stiles' eyes flickering from their joined hands to the creature's face where its eyes stayed completely locked on Stiles' golden orbs. The creature squeezed their hands before letting go and Stiles' gazed down at his empty fingers and wondered what to do with them now... what did they do before?

Then the creature rose. On its long, twiggy parts and loomed over Stiles. It was making sounds that Stiles couldn't understand again, so Stiles backed away, into the splashing waves and the creature followed. Moving one stick part after the other until water was up to its waist and the water was deep enough for Stiles to swim freely.

He wasn't sure if the creature was driving him away or not, but it was always better to be safe. He knew that the creature didn't belong in the water, it hadn't fared well and probably wouldn't risk following Stiles if it meant to harm him. Not that Stiles assumed that. The creature was benign. It was something Stiles wanted to know more about.

As Stiles watched the waves lap gently against the creature's front, it lifted one of its arms and flailed it about, mouth continuing to move and he assumed sounds were coming out. Maybe the creature thought Stiles could understand the sounds it was making, like merpeople when they're talking to fish that can't understand them - that would be an odd notion.

Either way, Stiles flicked his fin back at the creature before diving down into the water. It would be easier to figure out what sort of creature this thing was if he could talk to someone that spoke the same language. Perhaps Lydia had information about these things. If she didn't, she probably knew someone that did.

Stiles gave one last look at the creature, wavy from his watery perspective, before diving lower into the ocean. He simply hoped this creature would be there when he returned.


	2. Perspectives

The swim home was relatively calm, full of contemplation. Stiles could not remove the image of the strange creature from his mind. The dark hair that was still slightly upward despite the dampening effects of the water, the eyes… dark eyes that were deeper than canyons Stiles had explored – they were calm and welcoming when looking at Stiles, yet guarded all the same.

Its face; beautiful, Stiles would say - not only because of how exotic the creature was, but because of the creases and the structure; His upper body with good muscle definition that Stiles could make out through the wet substance covering the creature’s body. Then there was the sticky, long things coming out of its middle in place of where merpeople had fins. They were also covered in something Stiles didn’t recognize, something rough yet soft to the tough as he had noted when pulling the creature to shore. Yet he felt them. The hardness of the creature’s unusual body structure, and they had to be stable for the creature to hold itself up with them.

Stiles had to use all his upper body strength when he was on the surface because fins, though immaculate for movement under the water, weren’t entirely useful when it came to moving on sand or rock.

The creature’s sticky things, however, were perfect; made him the perfect creature to survive outside of the water.

Stiles couldn’t understand why he had never seen the creature before. How large was the land that it could house creatures such as these? The water was far greater to the land Stiles had seen, and the teaching in his reef had talked immensely about the vastness of the sea – all the species that dwelled in the dark crevices and near the surface – yet they never once touched on these beings, these things that would hold themselves upright in the open air, things that flailed under the water, things that touched with such warm hands.

Stiles subconsciously rubbed the place on his fin where the creature had touched, kept its hand and let it warm the cool scales.

It didn’t take long for Stiles to see the outline of Beacon Reef. The dip of the sand and rocks that led to the drop off of the reef that Stiles called home. The coral drifted with the waves as small fish and sea life swam around it, over it. Stiles greeted them with a warm smile and dodged the larger fish that swam above him in schools. The fish from this area were colorful compared to other places Stiles had visited with his father or with Scott, their scales shimmering as they swam.

Diving down deeper, into the canyon of the reef, Stiles would find the openings to many underwater tunnels that led to the caverns where his people lived. Jackson and Danny lived together far down the tunnel to his left, though Jackson was never inside the cave during the sunlight as he slept with other merfolk on the outskirts of the reef. Allison and Lydia shared a cavern together far off to the right, past the stretch of seaweed that danced with the ebb and flow of the tide. They have since they coupled and Lydia had brought in all sorts of exotic marine plants that Stiles had never heard of. There were plants that glowed, flooding their cavern with multi-colored lights, mostly pink and purples, and Allison smiled all the while, letting Lydia work. Of course, who fought with Lydia in this town? Plus, Allison knew that Lydia was doing most of the color choices to match Allison’s dark purple fin and not her own golden fin.

They were a sweet couple, even if Stiles had to suffer through a couple years of Scott and Allison’s dating fiasco. They were also an adorable couple, pining after each other, always smiling, but after a while it turned out that they made better friends than companions. They parted happily and on good terms which was beneficial to their extended group of friends. Not long after, Lydia and Allison started their relationship – which Stiles had seen from a mile away despite his own infatuation with Lydia and Lydia’s past relationship with Jackson that unfortunately did not have a happy ending. In many ways, Jackson still resented Lydia and her relationship with Allison, despite how perfect the two are for each other. Jackson had left for a while. Departed from the reef and said he was never going to return. Months later, he swam back to Beacon Reef with a scowl darker than usual and no patience to discuss how or why he suddenly had a bright pink fin.

Stiles ducked down the tunnel that led to his own cavern that he and his father took residence in. In the same tunnel, down one of the passages to the left, Scott lived with his mother – which was convenient considering how often Scott and Stiles spent time together.

He tried to be as silent as possible, swishing his fin through the dark tunnels that his own eyes adjusted to easily. Stiles shimmied through the sea anemone that grew in front of the entrance to his cavern, as a slight blockage to the entryway, and looked around the open vastness of the cavern before swimming to the surface. Inside all caverns was a pocket of air and rocks where merpeople sleep. He expected his father to still be asleep but, of course, Stiles wasn’t always right when it came to his father’s sleeping habits.

“And why are you awake so early?”

Stiles winced at his father’s stern voice, turning around to face the dreary eyed man. It certainly hadn’t been long since he’d woken up now that moonlight was almost upon them, his dark orange fin was unkempt and dull, despite the fact that it was usually like that, before his morning scrub through the anemone, however, it was even duller with dying flakes of scales peeling off.

“Um-“

“The sun is still in the sky and you’re wide awake. Where were you?”

Stiles bit the inside of his lip, “Just, swimming around, you know. Getting the early scoop on life near the reef, gotta-“

“You were on the surface again.” John narrowed his eyes, cutting his son off once again with an attitude built for zero nonsense.

“Define surface.”

“Stiles.”

“Okay, okay. I was on the beach again, but I like the sun, Dad! I like how it makes my fin feel.”

“Only the most foolish of merpeople go to the surface during sunlight. You know the dangers of the surface.”

“Not really,” Stiles muttered absentmindedly, regretting it the moment the words tumbled off his lips because the look his father gave him was not agreeable.

“Excuse me?”

Stiles’ mouth ran away with him, “Well, we know it’s dangerous. I mean, we’re told it is. But we don’t exactly know what is dangerous about it. No one ever tells us the specifics.”

“Because you don’t need to know the specifics. All you need to know is to stop going up there during sunlight and sleep like a normal mer so I don’t have to worry myself sick over you.”

Stiles sighed but before he could argue any further, his father cut him off. “Now go clean up. Your scales look burnt from the sun.”

“They’re not burnt, they’re tan.”

“They’re flaking, go fix them.”

“Go fix yours.” Stiles mumbled lowly, turning around to swim toward the anemone.

“What was that?” John practically hissed, making Stiles’ shoulders tense.

“Nothing, Dad!”

“That’s right, nothing.”

 Stiles sighed loudly when his father swam to the other end of the cavern, preparing the fish and algae Stiles had collected earlier that week. His ran his fin in and out of the growth of anemone within their cavern, shining up his scales and cleaning off any that were dry and unhealthy. His father should be doing this more than him. From what he could tell after all the sunbathing he’d been doing, his fin was healthier than ever.

When he was finished, Stiles swam leisurely up to his father. “So… now that you know I’m awake-“ The look John gave Stiles was sharper than some of the coral Stiles’ fin had gotten caught on before, “Is it okay if I head over to Lydia’s? She had some research that she wants help with and-“

“As long as it’s not research about the surface.”

“Oh no, don’t worry. I think it’s something to do with a new plant life she’s found growing further down the drop off.”

“Well, don’t go too deep.” Stiles nodded in agreement, picking at the meal his father prepared before his father handed him the gutted fish wrapped in seaweed and algae.

“Thanks, dad!”

With a swish of his tail he was racing from the cavern before his father’s voice could carry over the current and pushed through the growth in front of the entrance. He had to go to Lydia first, before anyone else. She would know what to do. He was only lucky that Scott was never up this early. He waited until the sun was completely set before he rose for the night. In fact, Stiles didn’t think he’d ever seen Scott’s fin completely bland. There had always been a few scales glowing.

Lydia, however, was up quite early. Never as early as Stiles who was a ridiculous mer and wanted to be up top while the sun was still in the sky, but still early enough for her gold fin to have less shimmer than usual.

He didn’t even have to travel the tunnels to see her long strawberry blonde locks flowing in the current because she was out on the edge of the reef, picking away at some samples.

“Hey-“

“What do you want, Stiles?”

“Um… didn’t you want me to help you with research?”

“Yeah, but you never actually agree to it.” She smirked without taking her eyes off the specimen.

“Guilty as charged I guess…” Stiles muttered, swimming closer and eying the movements of smaller life forms around the bits of coral. “I have a question. Hypothetically- a hypothetical question.”

“Right.” She didn’t sound convinced.

“Say, there were creatures on the surface.” Stiles’ hand absentmindedly moved forward as he spoke and Lydia swatted his hand away when the merman’s finger attempted to poke the creature she was observing. He continued talking as he nursed his abused finger, “Say, they sort of looked like merpeople but without gills, without scales, without fins entirely. Instead there were fleshy, hard… stick things.”

“Stick things?”

“Yeah, like logs that sink to the bottom but not as hard. Big, thick arms - without hands at the end.”

“That sounds ridiculous, Stiles.” Lydia finally looked up from her research to give Stiles the most unimpressed look.

“I know! It’s completely ludicrous which is why it’s totally and one hundred percent hypothetical.”

Lydia rolled her eyes, “Go on.”

“This creature also can’t live in the water. They sink and they need air to breathe-“ Stiles distinctly remembered watching the creature’s chest rise and fall as it inhaled the air of the sky through its nose and mouth. It was fascinating to watch. “But back to the bottom arms… they’re strong. Strong enough to hold the creature upright even up top.”

“You mean it was upright on the surface?”

“Yeah.”

Lydia narrowed her eyes, contemplation happening in that beautiful, genius mind of hers.

“Do you know what it is?”

“No, not exactly. But I’ve heard legends.”

“Legends are good! I can work with legends!” Stiles chirped happily, tail flicking with the news and almost hitting a fish that was swimming too near him. He apologized hastily, but the angry bubbles coming up from the fish’s gills definitely meant the apology was not accepted.

“They’re a type of land dweller. Creatures that live on the surface and don’t need the water to survive.”

“I gathered that much-“

Lydia glared and Stiles shut his mouth immediately.

“They’re intelligent, like us, and build things. Large vessels that go across the sea, floating on the surface of the water.”

Stiles bit his lip thoughtfully, his mind going back to when the creature fell into the water. There was a massive darkness that covered the water he was swimming through on his way to the beach. That’s what made Stiles stop and look. There was something on the surface, possibly one of these creations of the land dwellers. “Like giant, roundish forms of wood? That have been sculpted?”

“Sounds accurate. How do you know?”

“Just a guess!” Stiles answered quickly, a smile all too fake on his lips that Lydia saw through but decided not to comment on. Instead she continued with her myth.

“Some are benign, choosing to stay on land and never touching the water. However, those that build these vessels have black mess that rakes along the sea and steals fish from their homes. They capture hundreds of fish at a time, taking them to land with them. Other times, they dump things. I’ve heard of settlements that have been destroyed by thick black clouds. They’re… well they’re not creatures to be meddled with Stiles.”

Stiles nodded along, but none of it made sense to him. The creature he’d saved wasn’t malevolent in any way. Stiles had felt calm next to it, had felt… safe.

“But we’ve never had any such sightings along here. Maybe you should ask Deaton for more information.”

Stiles’ mind jumped back to the presence, shaking his head at the girl’s words. “You mean that weirdo that lives in the sunken ship?”

Lydia sighed, turning back to her research and snatching up a small creature that began to glow in the darkening moonlight. “He’s just a mer with a different way of living.”

“A creepy way of living! There’s always this ominous green glow coming from inside that ship. He’s… doing stuff in there! What if he’s taking merpeople and experimenting on them Lydia? What if he’s trying to make a mer-octopus? Like a creepy, she-octopus that lures beautiful young mers into her grasp and tears out their throats!”

“Stiles, you’re ridiculous and more dramatic than Jackson right now.”

“But Lydia! What if-“

“He’s a normal mer who simply likes to live on his own and actually makes potions that are meant to heal sea creatures?”

Stiles pouted, “Well… we can’t be too sure, Lydia. Not everyone’s as brilliant as you.”

Lydia smirked, beautiful teeth shining in a row, “No one’s as brilliant as I am.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, “No, of course, how could I forget.”

“Just go talk to Deaton if you want to know so much about this creature you saw.”

“But I-“

“Go.”

Stiles sighed loudly, bubbles of air floating up from his gills in a rush as he glared at the golden finned girl who was most certainly right about everything, as she usually was. He didn’t like Deaton though. Not that he’d had many conversations with the mer, but he gave him the wrong vibe; like he wasn’t meant to be part of their world. He knew things about other places, places that most mer had never heard of, and he could do things. He manipulated and built strange things in that ship of his and he lived very differently from other mer. Not many people understood him and his cryptic language, not even Scott who often worked with him.

Stiles had more reason to be frightened of a creature he’d never seen before, something foreign and potentially dangerous that fell into the water from above… yet Deaton was the thing that scared him.

.  
.

The sun was beginning to set as Derek made his way through the warm sand that stuck to the cold, wet legs of his trousers and the bottoms of his feet.

It had taken him a while to move from where he stood in the water, watching the waves pass over the place where the creature had disappeared down into the depths of the sea. He was stunning, nothing like Derek had ever seen before and he captivated him. Derek should have been terrified, naturally almost dying was something to be frightened of, but to be brought to shore by something with gills and a fin like a fish. That was downright unusual and Derek would have been out-casted if he talked of this to people.

Except, the creature saved him. He knew it did. Why else would it have been sitting there, watching him, after the last thing Derek could remember was falling overboard?

Derek figured he was the odd one. Most people waking up from nearly drowning to find a half-human, half-fish like being staring at them would have panicked, freaked out, thought the creature was prepared to eat them. Yet Derek… all he had to do was look into those eyes of gold, gleaming in the reflection of the sun, and he knew it meant him no harm. It was curious, if anything else, judging by how it had poked him… repeatedly. Perhaps they were tactile beings, whatever the boy- creature was.

It appeared human though (it’s upper half at least), and definitely male, by human standards. More beautiful than any person Derek had ever met though. His skin was so soft, soaked by the water but not until it was rough or dried. His body delicate yet defined. He was captivating…

Derek flexed his hand, running his opposite thumb over the palm. He could feel the red scales, the ghost of them, from where he had placed his hand on the creature’s fin. It was like a fish’s scales but harder and not close enough to a snake’s from how wet and cold they were. He was incredibly cold, the fishman. Derek could only imagine how warm his touch must have felt to him.

As he trudged through the long grass at the edge of the sand, Derek wondered how he remained this calm and casual about the whole ordeal. There was no denial in his thoughts. How could there be? He’d touched him; he was real, fish parts and all.

The main question on Derek’s mind now was his location. Yes he was no longer in the ocean, which was good, but where had the fishman brought him? Derek had never been to this beach before, he recognized nothing about it, not even the rock formations that surrounded the area, and Derek knew the vast majority of his island by heart from his many explorations. However, as he peered over the rocks, he saw the expanse of a forest and not many people from his town travel through the woods. It left a slight chance that this was his island, and he hoped it was. They hadn’t been too far away from land when he’d fallen overboard.

Derek rolled his eyes, cursing himself for being such an idiot. He had been on deck, all alone with the oncoming nightfall, preparing everything for the evening when one of the pulleys unhooked itself and hit him in the back of the head. He lost consciousness just as he tumbled over the side of the ship.

If he’d been smart, he would have kept Isaac up but the crew was tired from their journey and they were almost home, he figured they had earned their rest.

A little off balance, he made his way over the rocks and started through the woods, glancing back one last time at the lone beach and the lapping waves.

It was completely dark by the time Derek made it out of the woods to find himself on the outskirts of town – his town. He was thankfully on his island, which meant he could find his way home – and also his way back to the beach.

.

“Derek! I am going to kill you!” Laura shouted as she threw open the front door, launching right into her younger brother’s arms and hugging him tightly.

Derek laughed softly, closing his arms around his sister’s back. Figures she would be waiting up, candles in the window of the house and hanging above the doorway to guide him home.

“Isaac said he came up to help you for the night and you were gone! He checked your bunk and-“

“I fell overboard,” he explained calmly, soothing her back when he saw his uncle Peter lean against the doorframe of the entryway. He smiled to his uncle, who nodded back and he could see in his eyes that he was thankful to see Derek alive.

Laura pulled away, smacking Derek on the back of his head and he cried out harder than he would have. Instantly his hand was rubbing the sore spot where the pulley had hit him earlier that evening and Laura gave him an apologetic look through her glare.

“We were all worried sick about you! You’re such an idiot!”

“I know, Laura. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“You’re damn right it won’t! Hales are so stupid, I swear!” She hissed, earning an eyebrow quirk from her uncle as she tugged her lost brother into the house.

“Now be quiet, Cora’s still-“

“Derek!” The youngest Hale threw herself at her brother, burying her face in his neck. “Thought we lost you!”

“Nearly did.” Derek chuckled, picking up the younger girl and swinging her around. “Washed up to shore, on a beach somewhere and made it back through the woods. I’m fine though,” Derek assured his family, locking eyes with his older sister who was basically the mother of the house. 

“Good, I’m glad you’re home!” Cora smiled, dropping to the ground and punching Derek hard in the shoulder. Again, it hurt more than usual what with the exhaustion from drowning and then walking back home.

“All right everyone, he’s not dead,” Peter announced, speaking for the first time and placing a hand on Derek’s shoulder. “That means we all go to bed and get some rest.”

Derek sighed a breath of relief when both sisters nodded, Cora with disappointment and Laura with agreement – he could see how tired her own eyes were.

As everyone made their way to their rooms, Derek wandered the house to blow out the candles Laura had set out before taking a candle in hand and walking up the stairs to his own room at the end of the hall.

He changed into dry night clothes, depositing his sand and salt soaked trousers on the floor along with his shirt, and lied back on his soft bed. He knew he was going to have more explaining to do in the morning, especially to his crew that still didn’t know he was alive.

Derek chuckled; Erica was going to slap him. As long as it was across his cheek he would be okay with it, unlike the back of his head… Derek winced at the slight throbbing… his sister was evil sometimes.

Either way, it was probably best to keep the story less than truthful. No one would believe a half-man, half-fish creature saved him from the depths of the ocean and then stared longingly into his eyes for a good while. Perhaps it was only Derek who stared longingly though, at those molten gold eyes that Derek almost found himself following into the sea. That would have been a laugh. Saved by a sea creature only to chase after it and drown all over again.

All things could be dealt with in the morning, when he was more coherent. For now he would let himself dream of the wonders of the ocean and the flick of the boy’s red fin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been quite a while since I've written a multichapter fic and I'm sorry if this first chapter was boring it will get better I promise. I'm going to try to update this at least once a week, that is my goal.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I actually updated this about two weeks ago on tumblr and forgot to upload it to AO3 until this point. OOPS SORRY.
> 
> It may or may not be in your best interest to check [my tumblr](http://arrafrost.tumblr.com) for updates rather than ao3 because I don't upload my fics to ao3 regularly anymore. I have always updated on tumblr first but now I just don't find the time to transfer them to ao3. They'll get here eventually.... but it will take much longer.

“You’re not going out today.” Laura barged into Derek’s room before he was properly dressed.

Derek hurriedly tugged on his trousers for the day and turned shirtless and fumed toward his intruding sister. “You could learn to knock, Laura!”

The elder Hale rolled her eyes, hands perched on her hips and her brows leaving no room for argument as she spoke, “You are not to leave the house at all today.”

Derek sighed loudly, reaching for the shirt he laid out on his unmade bed. “Laura, I’m fine. I’m up as usual, I feel perfectly fine-“

“It’s three in the afternoon.”

Derek paused, “I always wake up at six.”

“Exactly,” Laura nodded and used her strict ‘I mean business’ voice, “You’re staying home today and Cora’s going to make sure you’re not overexerting yourself.”

“Cora? So you’re not going to hang around and big sister me into sitting still?” Derek finished pulling on his shirt, straightening it out to look somewhat presentable for waking up at such a late hour. He wasn’t sure how he was going to get to sleep again that night… though considering how tired and sluggish he felt, it probably wouldn’t be hard.

“I have to go in and sort some things out with the paper work. New shipments for next week need to be sorted and Isaac had some trouble bringing things in yesterday.”

“Oh yeah?” Derek asked, confusion in his voice. Isaac was usually the most proficient out of everyone on his crew, he was quite capable of becoming a captain of his own boat some day.

Laura gave Derek a dumb expression, eyes blown wide as she stared at her sibling in disbelief. “Derek. You  _fell off_  a boat. He thought you drowned.  _Of course_  he’d have trouble keeping things together.”

“Oh. Right.” He nodded, forgetting that his life had legitimately been in danger last night. He hadn’t told anyone about the creature that saved his life… that beautiful red fin shining as the sun hit its scales in all the right places.

Laura exhaled loudly, rolling her eyes as she turned to exit the room. “You’re such an idiot. Come down and help prepare dinner.”

“I thought I was supposed to stay home and rest!” Derek called after her.

“Peeling potatoes won’t kill you, come downstairs!”

Derek sighed, stretching as he glanced out his window. He wondered if there was a chance he could get away from his family today. They were great people and they always looked after each other, considering they were all they had left. But it was overbearing sometimes, the way Laura took over their mother’s role and Peter tried to act like the appropriate father figure despite his… questionable way of living that often meant staying at the tavern at all hours.

He loved his family, was he was able to come home to them… he didn’t know what they would have done if they had lost Derek too. That was why Derek wanted to go back to the beach. Maybe if the creature was still there he could thank him. He had tried, while he was sitting with him on the beach and following him out into the water. He talked to him, thanking him for saving his life and not attacking him. He explained what had happened to the creature and tried to ask him about itself but… clearly he didn’t understand English.

Derek was absurd to think he would. He had a fin and gills like a fish. Clearly he was a creature of the ocean and what sea life spoke any human languages? He shook his head, running his hands through his hair in an attempt to ride himself of the bed head he most likely possessed. All he wanted to do was see him again… who wouldn’t? A magical fish-like creature saves them from drowning and they brush it off as though nothing extraordinary happened. Derek would like to meet the person that would.

“Are you coming downstairs or do I have to be the only Hale man to get his ear chewed off by these women?” Peter made his grand entrance, leaning on Derek’s door frame and Derek laughed to himself. Peter would probably think nothing of it, having seen more unusual things when he was stumbling through the road, drunk out of his mind.

“At least they’re not literally chewing your ear off like Cora used to do when she was younger.”

“Hey, she bit my finger once when she was a kid. I still have the scar, I know what it’s like.”

Derek laughed along with Peter, he remembered when that happened. Their mother had to pry her off of Peter with threats of no strawberries that season because they had recently received a shipment of the delicious red berries. As they walked down the hallway, joking about childish things, Derek wondered what the next shipment was going to be. It was always a surprise to him because Laura refused to let him handle the paper work. He only knew what was going out, not back in. The joys of having his sister run their family’s shipping company.

“Oh my god you’re alive!” Was the first thing Derek heard when he stepped off the staircase and it was swiftly followed by physical impact that had him stumbling backwards.

“Hi, Isaac.” Derek muttered into the curly brown hair currently nuzzling against his face as arms locked around his shoulders.

“I thought you were dead but you’re not!”

“Evidently, no.”

“Oh, and Isaac’s here.” Laura called from the kitchen.

“Got it!” Derek yelled back as Isaac backed away, giving Derek one of the sappiest smiles possible. He didn’t have time to return the smile though because a firm hand slapped him right across his face.

Derek grunted in pain, his own hand coming up to press against the stinging flesh as he basically hissed, “Hi, Erica.”

“Ass.” Was all she said before walking past him toward the living room and planting herself on one of the couches.

The next physical contact was a hand on his shoulder, not overly affectionate or violent. It was nice to have a well-balanced crew member like Boyd.

“Okay! Now that we’re all assured that Derek is very much alive, let’s bring this party to the kitchen so we can eat.” Laura beckoned, peeking her head out from the kitchen once again. “And after dinner, Erica and I can head back to the office.”

Erica nodded, flashing Laura a smile that she hadn’t offered Derek. He was the one that deserved a smile for still being alive, not a red cheek throbbing with pain. 

Derek didn’t deal on that fact though, because he was being pulled into the kitchen to have a meal with his extended loved ones… all the people he couldn’t bare to leave. He had to find that creature and thank him, thank him for their sake more than his own.

.  
.

"Why do I have to go with you?" Scott asked, his tail swishing with the tide in a lazy manner, as though it was Stiles’ fault that Scott had slept in so late into the night. 

"Because you’ve actually had a conversation with Deaton that didn’t involve him yelling at you to stay away from his sunken ship."

Scott’s brow arched, “To be fair, you were trying to cover his ship with rotten seaweed.”

"I wasn’t trying to cover it! That is… too much square footage. I was merely attempting to decorate sections of the ship with…"

“ _Rotten_ seaweed.”

Stiles sighed loudly, rolling his eyes, “Whatever, he was still creepy. I was sure I saw a cauldron boiling when he opened weird curtain thing he had blocking the porthole he swam out of.” Stiles paused in his sentence, questioning the accuracy of what he said. Ships were weird places to live, end of story.

"Why do you even want to know about the surface world anyway? It’s dangerous up there. Nothing but a wasteland with a severe lack of water. We sort of need water. To live, Stiles. In case you forgot."

Stiles narrowed his eyes at him in a heated glare, “Don’t get snarky with me, that’s my job.”

"Either way, your dad won’t be happy about you asking about it. You spend too much time swimming to the surface as is."

"I- shut up and swim before I push you into the next current."

.  
.

Inside Deaton’s sunken ship was even more suspicious than peering into it from the portholes. 

There were strange, foreign objects growing moss and other sea fungi surrounding the space. Things were shinning in the light of the weird mist coming out of the cauldron- _  
_

 _"Told you he had a cauldron._ " Stiles whispered into Scott’s ear. Scott, of course, whispered back that he knew, considering he’d worked for Deaton for a while.

The unfortunate part, however, was Deaton kicking him out moments after he allowed Scott to enter. After he figured out Stiles’ identity. Apparently he was still ticked off about the totally not rotten it was only slightly ripe seaweed incident. 

Stiles swam back and forth outside the ship, flicking his tail and turning himself in circles. Small fish were attracted to the glowing of his tail as the spinning no doubt cast lights into the dark water. Fish were always swarming merpeople though, especially when they moved quite a lot. They were one of the few sea creatures that glowed in the moonlight.

Even some scales freckled over his skin glowed slightly. He used to be self-conscious about them, but eventually he learned to accept them as something that made him unique. One day other merpeople would see them as endearing, he knew they would.

Stiles paused in his spinning, curling his tail under him to sit stationary in the soft current. He wondered what the creature would think of his small, scattered scales. He imagined the having of a scale at all would be different for the weird… two laggy thing. Why Lydia thought they were called lags… well, she was smart about the whole thing. He wasn’t about to question her. 

Either way… picturing those eyes… those striking eyes lingering on his scales, it sent chills down to the tip of his fin. 

"So… I asked him," Scott’s voice jolted Stiles out of his reverie, making him spin around and greet his best friend.

"And?"

"He mostly said stay away from the surface world… with a bunch of cryptic phrases and warnings that involved netting and fisheries and exposure."

"Exposure?"

"Yeah, said that we were best to remain hidden and stay in our world where it was safe."

"Hidden from what?" Stiles asked, thinking of the creature he saw, Surely they weren’t harmful creatures… the one he met seemed docile. As though he wanted to communicate with Stiles not harm him.

"I don’t know Stiles,  _things_ , things on the surface that are weird and don’t need water like we do and want to hurt us I guess. Why are you so interested in this anyway?”

"No reason!" Stiles answered too quickly, too lost in his thoughts about the creature’s gentle demeanor to monitor his lies responsibly. 

Scott stared at him with a dubious expression until Stiles huffed.

"I just, I want to know more about it. I like it up there. Laying in the sun, it’s warm and I’m interested. I like to learn things. And maybe I want to see if there’s a way… I can stay up there longer? Or explore it farther because I’m mostly restricted to the shoreline and the rocks were I can slip back into the water."

Scott sighed, shaking his tail at Stiles disapprovingly and Stiles wanted to bite his light green fin, but he didn’t because that would not be a cool move for their friendship.

"Just… be careful, Stiles. And don’t go up there too often. I don’t want to lose my best friend to some dangers that were explained in an overly confusing manner to me."

"No worries," Stiles hit his fin against Scott’s reassuringly, "Not gonna lose me anytime soon."

"Good!" Scott grinned happily, "Now, let’s go do things like productive members of the reef and not have your dad assign community service to us again."

"Sounds like a plan!" Stiles returned the smile, deciding he would put the thoughts of the surface world in the back of his mind for now.

.  
.

For now didn’t last very long, however. Once more, Stiles woke up earlier than his father, when the last rays of the sun were still beaming down into the reef, lighting their world in an unfamiliar yet pleasant way that Stiles always enjoyed. 

There was different life out during the sunlight, his scales refused to glow for the warm, yellow orb like they did happily for the moon. It was wonderful and thrilling, especially as he raced toward the surface, tail swishing from excitement as he dove above the waterline, smiling happily as he hovered in the air for a moment before falling back into the ocean. 

He had seen dolphins do this before, when his class took a trip further out to sea, away from the safety of the reef. It was incredible and ever since Stiles had been obsessed with learning how to perfect the art of diving out of the water and back in as gracefully as they did. He could do it now, probably not as glamorously as they did… but he achieved airtime nonetheless. 

Without thinking, Stiles swam straight for the beach where he often laid himself out on the rocks. Where he last saw the creature… and hoped it’d return. 

Nothing was there, of course, when Stiles rode the waves onto the sand. It was as empty as it always was. No sign of life, sea or surface wise. 

With a disappointed huff, he hauled himself up onto one of the rocks, the weight of his tail making it more difficult than if he were under the water. Once he’d settled, he flicked his fin out, letting it soak up the sun as the rays dried the water from his scales.

Stiles laid back, sighing as he imaged the creature again. How its sun kissed flesh made Stiles look so pale. How it lacked scales, had two lags instead of a fin, didn’t possess gills so he couldn’t possibly breathe while he was in the water. Yet he was still one of the most gorgeous things Stiles had ever seen. 

It occurred to Stiles that his tastes lied in the exotic. And that might be true. Though that shouldn’t be a fault or a flaw in his person. He simply appreciated what others didn’t. Found beauty in things otherwise unattractive.

A rustle of the leaves drew his attention behind him. Stiles had learned what they were from Lydia, the trees and bushes and general foliage of the surface. Much different from their plant life underwater. 

When he sat up and turned his head to find the source of the noise, his heart stopped. 

He was sure he was hallucinating until the thing moved closer and Stiles tensed, immediately causing the creature to pause in its movement. Hands came up in a manner that Stiles recognized as nonthreatening and he let his shoulder relax slightly.

It was the same creature he had saved the other day. The things with lags. Lags was there, upright in all his finless glory. Moving toward him with unexpectedly graceful motions with his weird, two twiggy lag deals. Lags were just really weird, Stiles accepted.

Then the creature was there, leaning up against the very rock Stiles was laying on and staring at him with such intensity. There was a curiosity in his eyes, and wonder that mimicked Stiles’ expression he imagined. Bewildered that this was real, that this other creature existed and was there for their viewing pleasure once more when they thought they would never see each other again.

That’s what Stiles pictured at least. 

Suddenly his hand was touching the creature’s face. He cupped his cheek and felt something scratchy against his palm… the coarse black things surrounding his mouth and chin… they were different and new and exciting.

The creature glanced down at Stiles’ hand, eyes flicking between Stiles’ face and his hand but it didn’t move away.

Stiles let his thumb glide over the prickly surface of this creature’s face. ”You’re real!” He said with a smile of amazement spreading across his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I regret to inform you that this series is now discontinued. I unfortunately lost interest in this story, mostly due to losing interest in the fandom. I apologize that I never added more to this story and left you guys hanging, but I simply can’t force myself to write something I’m not inspired to write. Thank you for your interest in this story, I appreciate everything.


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